The Facebook Marketplace will appear as an icon in the Facebook app, and will let users see all items available for sale near their location, and will also allow searching for specific items.Neha Alawadhi | ET Bureau | Updated: October 04, 2016, 00:16 IST

Facebook on Monday released a new feature called Marketplace which lets users buy and sell items available nearby through the social network.

The mobile-only feature is initially rolling out only for people over 18 years old in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand on the Facebook app for iPhone and Android.

"More than 450 million people visit buy and sell groups each month — from families in a local neighborhood to collectors around the world, " said Mary Ku, Director of Product Management, Facebook, in a blog post announcing the new feature.

The closest Indian equivalent of the model could be a Quikr or Olx, that allow buyers and sellers to directly interact with each other.

The Facebook Marketplace will appear as an icon in the Facebook app, and will let users see all items available for sale near their location, and will also allow searching for specific items.

Users can also browse what is available in a variety of categories such as household, electronics and apparel, said Ku. The built-in location tool can be used to adjust the region you’re looking in, or switch to a different city altogether.

The user can tap on the image to see more details from the seller, including a product description, the name and profile photo of the seller, and their general location. One can also save the item to find it later.

The feature also has a "Your Items" section, where a user can view their saved items, products they posted posted for sale, and all their messages with people.

"We will continue expanding to additional countries and make Marketplace available on the desktop version of Facebook in the coming months, " Ku added.